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Obama: Police acted "stupidly"

Obama: Police acted "stupidly"
(01:53) Report
Jul 23 - President Barack Obama criticized Massachusetts police after arresting a prominent black Harvard University professor at his own home -- weighing in on an escalating debate over the treatment of minorities by police. What do you think of his body language?

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Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
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Ben Roethlisberger's Body Language, Deception? Is he Lying?

I analyzed the body language of Steelers Quarter Back Ben Roethlisberger as he gave his statement to the media denying sexual assault charges on Fox Sports Radio 970 in Pittsburgh today.

Here is the story and a link to the video in case you aren’t familiar with it: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/. And here is the VIDEO of Ben reading the statement http://www.wpxi.com/video/20156562/index.html. Lets look at Ben Roethlisberger's body language before this event to get his baseline for normal. Letterman show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19vaoeNw72E.

When you watch Ben's body language on the David Letterman show after the Super Bowl, you see a strong alpha male. He is a hero we can admire. He was so confident. He is sitting back in the chair and with his upper and lower torsos fully relaxed. His shoulders are relaxed down rather than up around his ears like a scared turtle as you sometimes see guests on the Letterman show. His legs are splayed out with the pelvis on display. The spread is more than sixteen inches wide showing his bravado and sexual confidence. Through most of the interview his hands and arms are relaxed, resting on top of his legs. The hands are open in a gesture of relaxed self-comfort. His paralanguage (his voice) is energetic. His heart is open and up to his audience again showing fearlessness. Several times, he makes direct eye contact with David Letterman, which also shows his confidence. Many guests have trouble making eye contact with Letterman, but Ben takes the ribbing in stride, smiling throughout. His body language is relaxed and his voice reveals no tension as he admits that he did not make the touchdown. He looks honest and forthcoming. Power is communicated nonverbally by the amount of space you take up whether your body language is open or closed and whether your body is relaxed or tense in a particular interview Ben shows the three pillars of powerful body language.

Promoting his football camp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4zekdD-Q2o.

In this interview, promoting his football camp, Ben is smiling again. His gestures are large and sweeping away from his body, showing his confidence. Obama gestures the same way. Ben's chin comes up at the end of sentences--again a body gesture shared with Obama that shows his confidence, and a bit of arrogance. He does get ruffled when he is asked questions about his past bad year. Each time he is asked about his past, notice how he presses his lips together to hold in his emotions. When he is asked to talk about what it is like to be him he rubs his ear and his voice becomes clipped and strident revealing stress. Notice how his words say great things about his fans but his body language shows something different. He is actually showing extreme stress. Notice the revelation of that stress as he shares how with his words that it a good thing that people yell and scream his name but his face grimaces and the corners of his mouth come down. A moment later his words say, “It’s better for them to be yelling your name than not.” and “You have to be a fan of the fans.” However, he is frowning. In addition, he is shaking his head no, as he is saying. “It’s great.” To have fans.
There is a "Ben" gesture, a gesture he is known for. He brings his full arm up as he does thumbs up a characteristic Ben body language gesture. He really makes a show of moving his arm up so the thumb is up higher than a typical thumbs up. His thumb is actually at shoulder level, showing his 'up' body language and cockiness.

Signing his new deal last March http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o93sSGadbzQ

Ben’s body language as he is interviewed after signing his new deal last March is so incredibly happy. He voice is up, powerful, and energetic, as is his body language. He is genuine and that shows in his spontaneous comments and matching body language, which is smooth and flowing. He has again, what I call 'up' body language. Up posture shows confidence. When you are confident your posture, motions, voice, and smile are up.

When Ben comes out to make his statement to the press about the sexual assault, he moves quickly. It is clear he wants to get this done and get out of there. As soon as he reaches the podium he reaches across his body in a self comfort gesture apparently to adjust his tie. That movement brings his arm out and in front of his chest to protect his heart. Following this his arm goes away from his body in a very unusual high block. His next movement is seemingly to straighten his cuffs but in fact belies his desire to shake off his negative emotions. Before he speaks, his head comes down not just to look at his notes, it lingers two beats too long before you see and hear him bring his tongue back in his mouth and smack it.
“Saturday is the first that I heard of her allegations.” The corners of his mouth go sharply down and back in a facial expression of denial. As he says, “I will respond to her outrageous allegations in the appropriate forum," he gives a quick aggressive tongue thrust showing he will attack. You can hear him heaving exhalations of breath. That is the way we get rid of negative emotions in the body. “I have an obligation to the Pittsburg Steelers (head down) and I will do that.” His tongues goes across his mouth and erases that statement, (tongue eraser gesture) showing it is a lie. He has several strong downward hand and arm movements called slicing motions that show his power and aggressiveness. Watch his motion as his says, “I am going to fight.” The gesture is not just strong, it is fully harmonious with his voice. He is absolutely telling the truth. He will fight this aggressively.